Ex-SC Gov. Sanford to Announce Run for Congress

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Nearly four years after his affair with an Argentine woman was exposed, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford plans to announce his return to politics and run for his old congressional seat.

His spokesman Joel Sawyer confirmed to The Associated Press that the 52-year-old Sanford would announce his bid on Wednesday. The ex-Republican governor said last month that reports he was planning a political comeback were accurate and he was in Charleston last week looking for office space for his campaign.

The National Review Online on Tuesday first reported the announcement.

Sanford’s old 1st District seat is open. Its former occupant, U.S. Rep. Tim Scott, was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the resignation of Sen. Jim DeMint.

The two-term governor was seen as a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009 to visit his mistress in Argentina. Reporters and others were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

When he returned, Sanford confessed the affair in a tearful Statehouse news conference. He later called Maria Belen Chapur his “soul mate” and the couple got engaged last summer.

The international affair ended any hopes Sanford had of running for president and destroyed his marriage, which ended in divorce from his wife, Jenny.

Jenny Sanford said Monday that, after considering the race, she will not seek the 1st District seat, saying being at home with her family was more important.